Re: Project Initialisation Question

In Reply to: Project Initialisation Question posted by TimP (pp SimonT) on November 14, 1997 at 18:31:49:

Simon,

Sorry about the delay in replying - mainly because these quesstions
all seem good. But here are my comments:

At 15:41 11/10/97 -0000, Simon Tucker wrote:
>* What is the client business
>* Who is the target audience(Hardware Profile)

I suspect that in most cases we would have to tell the customer the
hardware profile of the target audience, but of course there might well
be special cases where the target audience is particularly well-defined.

>* Is there a client corporate identity document
>* Is there any client company literature
>* What are their objectives with their web presence

This is where the tips from marketingnet.com will come in. The main
tip that we should bear in mind here is that the content should be
useful to the audience to keep them coming back. In particular, just
putting a version of any company literature (prospectus, sales brochure,
whatever) will not be as effective as providing 'useful' content - e.g.
adding an ordering mechanism for products, providing technical papers for
techies, free downloads for trials of products, hints and tips for using
products, a web based discussion forum for product users, etc.)

>* Who will take ownership of the project in-house(Contact Details)
>* Does content exist and what format is it in
>* Where will site be hosted
>* What is the prefered launch date
>* Is there a database involved
>* If there is a database, does it exist
>* If the database already exists what application is it written in

Application or language.

>* If the database already exists can we have a copy
>* If the database does not exist is it to be developed in-house
>* If it is to be developed by I-WAY....(Now I need you guys to help!!!
What questions do we ask to guage the database??)

We need to know the structure and size of the database:
* How many records will it hold?
* What will be the contents of each records (what fields will it have)?
* What do we need to do with the data? (Just display it, incorporate it
into order forms, dynamically update it as users enter data,
use it customise pages etc).
* Are there any 'subsiduary' databases (technically, how many tables
do we need, and how are they linked)
For instance, the USN database has a main table of parts and their
descriptions, and two subsiduary tables - one for prices and another
for the suppliers of the parts. This is not too important initially
as these requirements should get refined as the technical spec of the
database/site are expanded and refined.

And I think that we might need similar guidance for other 'advanced'
technology
including anything involving programming - Java, JavaScript, any CGI scripts.

>Well these were my thoughts for the sales people's Q list. Remember that
these guys need guidance in the call and I'd like this to act as a template
to an initial meeting with the client so we may scope the job as accurately
as possible.
>
>Our sales people are...
>
>bob@soho.i-way.co.uk
>helen@oxford.i-way.co.uk
>dick@i-way.co.uk
>emma@swindon.i-way.co.uk
>chris@i-way.co.uk
>
>
>Speak soon,
>
>Simon

Hope this is useful. I think that one thing to remember is that it will always
be difficult to get all the relevant information right at the start of the
sales/consultancy process, (if only because customers might not have a clear
idea of what they really want/need) and so long as most of these questions are
answered early AND CIRCULATED TO RELEVANT PEOPLE FOR COMMENT then we should be
in a good position to move forward with each case.

So long as we communicate the answers to the above questions effectively
(perhaps via e-mail or by using some web technology such as Paneris
Multiboard)
so that anyone involved has the chance to forward any questions to the
customer
(either via the sales person or directly with the customer, depending) then we
can't have a better start to a project (other than having a technical person
sitting in on every sales meeting which is not really practical).

Note distribution of this message : paneris@i-way and SimonT. In particular,
this is not distributed to sales people. I have not followed up on the
multiboard because I am not sure if Simon is involved in the distribution
(we need to look at distribution of multiboard messages, I think).

Myles

---------------------------------------------------------------
Myles Chippendale - myles.chippendale@hclu.ox.ac.uk
77 Hurst Street - mylesc@i-way.co.uk
Oxford OX4 1HA - 01865 791078

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